


Healthy Competition

by koto



Category: Stray Kids (Band)
Genre: Arcades, Carnival, First Dates, First Meetings, Fluff, M/M, Not Beta Read, Strangers to Lovers, Tooth-Rotting Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-27
Updated: 2020-06-27
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:28:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,973
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24938302
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/koto/pseuds/koto
Summary: “Minho, will you kiss the ball for me?” Jisung asks, holding the orange wiffleball up to his newfound friend's face.“Absolutely not,” Minho says, eyes stone cold. “I have no idea how many people have touched that. But you have my full support!” Jisung pouts at him, making the biggest puppy eyes he can.
Relationships: Han Jisung | Han/Lee Minho | Lee Know, Hwang Hyunjin/Kim Seungmin, side ship
Comments: 16
Kudos: 282





	Healthy Competition

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, me again. At some point I'm gonna burn out it hasn't happened yet. This took me about a day to write and edit, I needed to write some cute fluffy fluff after my last fic took a turn for the dramatic. I smiled so much writing this. Jack Johnson is really great background music for fluff, as it turns out. I hope you all enjoy! Please leave a comment if you do!
> 
> P.S. This isn't beta read, so if you notice any glaring issues please, please, seriously tell me so I can fix it :)
> 
> Find me on twitter at /0hrhj0 and cc at /Koto16

“Shit!”

Jisung has been at this for at least thirty minutes, and the stupid little clown faces on this stupid rigged carnival game are really starting to get to him. He throws the ball as hard as he can at the middle clown's face, clenching his fist in excitement as it tips over, then using it to punch his own thigh as the clown springs back up and stares at him tauntingly. He started the game with fifteen tokens stacked up on the side of the booth, and he’s down to seven. The medium soda he’d brought is now nothing more than a cup of ice, offering no refreshment in his time of need. Things are getting rough.

“Another round, please!” Jisung calls out to the game operator, who presses the button to refill his machine with orange wiffle balls. He passes over a token, to which the man nods in thanks. When Jisung had started playing the games, he had two friends with him to cheer him on, and the operator had just watched them with a dead look in his eyes. His friends had abandoned the game ten minutes ago, and now the operator looks at Jisung with pity. 

“Dude, if there’s a toy you want you can like… Do you have ten bucks? I’ll just give it to you,” he offers. Jisung looks up at the operator, then shifts his gaze towards the net full of stuffed animals. There’s a big chipmunk plush sitting towards the bottom, head comically large with hearts for pupils. Jisung wants it to come home with him, badly, and he seriously considers the offer. He doesn’t have ten bucks, though. He spent all his money on tokens, and even if he hadn’t, the chipmunk looks cute and pure and like it wouldn’t want to belong to a cheater. 

“No thanks,” Jisung grunts, chucking the ball and knocking over a clown. _Yes!_ Only five more to go! He throws his next ball. _Miss._ Another one. _A hit!_ He claps his hands together twice and clenches his fist to hype himself up, and he can almost hear the applause in the background. He throws another ball and hits a thirds clown down, and the fake applause grows louder.

“Damn! That was a good throw!” a voice says from a few feet away, the applause slowing down. Jisung snaps his head to the side and sees a man standing there, hands pressed together. _The source of the applause._ He’s good looking, but he’s alone, which is a weird thing to be at a community carnival. He’s also applauding a stranger at a game booth, which is even weirder, so Jisung decides to be cautious and not interact too much.

“Thanks,” he replies shortly, throwing another ball and missing. There are three clowns and four balls left. He misses the next two, meaning even if he hits the next two clowns perfectly he’ll still run out of balls before he can win. He gives it his best effort anyways, hitting the next two, which makes the loss sting even more. 

“Aw man, you were close. I don’t think it’s your technique, you just need to be consistent,” the man chimes in. _Did I ask?_

“Another, please!” Jisung calls out, and his machine is once again reloaded as Jisung hands the man a token. Jisung throws the balls as hard as he can, trying to focus. He hits five in a row, and he can practically taste victory, can almost feel the soft fur of the plush as he cuddles it to sleep. The man watching is just as enthused, he’s been shouting and whooping every time Jisung hits a clown down. Jisung turns his head to look at him again and is met with a wide smile and a double thumbs up. The guy really is handsome, especially when he smiles and his eyes scrunch up and his lips upturn in a slightly crooked fashion. _Why is he still watching?_

Jisung throws again and whiffs it. Then again with the same result. The only clown left standing is on the top row, and it stares at him from above, mocking Jisung for never growing past junior year of high school. He grazes it with his second to last ball, but it’s not nearly strong enough to knock the clown over. The man next to Jisung hisses in frustration as he picks up his last ball, which he throws and misses by a wide margin. 

“Bummer, dude,” the guy chimes in, and Jisung decides he finally has to acknowledge the situation.

“Can I help you?” he asks. It comes off a little more rude than he intended, but he’s never been in this sort of situation, and he’s not sure what to say. The man’s face falls for a second, then turns into a crooked smirk.

“Probably not, judging by those last four throws.” 

“What the hell? Who are you to judge my throws?” Jisung shoots back, not expecting such a sarcastic response from the guy who’s been cheering him on the last few minutes. He probably deserves it, though.

“Minho.”

“Well, Minho, I’m not sure I appreciate your unsolicited input,” Jisung snaps, motioning to the operator again. Minho doesn’t appear to be leaving, so Jisung keeps talking as he throws. “And you said my technique was good like three minutes ago, so what gives?”

“It was good three minutes ago, but then you got distracted and got sloppy. You need to focus,” Minho responds, pulling up a stool from a nearby game and taking a seat.

“You’re the one distracting me!” Jisung exclaims, throwing his last ball of the round. He only got three down that time, and his pile of tokens is down to four. The operator grabs one and refills the machine without Jisung even asking this time.

“So why are you playing this carnival game alone?” Minho asks, applauding when Jisung gets three in a row. 

“I had friends with me when I started,” Jisung says, throwing a ball and missing by a half inch. “They left me twenty minutes in. Probably to go make out on the ferris wheel.”

“Ugh. You could never get me on that thing. Especially for a temporary carnival. There’s no way it’s safe,” Minho says, and Jisung can see him shudder out of his peripherals. 

“Thank you!” Jisung shouts, turning to Minho with his hands raised in excitement. “Finally someone who gets it! Heights are awful enough when they’re stable, why would anyone get on something high up that’s designed to collapse? What’s romantic about tumbling to your death? I’m Jisung, by the way.”

“Nice to meet you, Jisung. You have very sophisticated views on ferris wheels, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance,” Minho says with a smile. Jisung finishes out the round, failing once again. Three tries left. He waves, and the machine restarts.

“Thank you. By the way, you’re judging me for being alone, but you’re standing here watching a stranger play Down the Clown. At least I’m doing something, you’re just observing. What gives?” Jisung asks. This round is an utter failure, the first four balls missing. The chipmunk is staring at him, and for a second Jisung thinks he can see tears coming out of its giant plastic eyes. 

“I’m being used as a taxi service for my little sister and her friends. As long as I’m at the gate when things close, I get to roam free. Lucky me,” Minho says with an unenthusiastic cheer. When Jisung starts the new round hitting three in a row, he cheers for real. “So have you really been here for twenty minutes?”

“Forty,” the operator chimes in. Jisung glares at him. He misses his next ball and groans in irritation, but the next one hits. The top clown on the pyramid is still standing, as well as one in the middle row. Jisung throws the ball and knocks the top one down for the first time that night. 

“Oh my god!” he shouts, turning to Minho with his arms raised in excitement. Minho raises his own arms, meeting Jisung’s hands for a double high-five in the air. “Oh my god, Minho, I’ve never hit that one!”

“You’re so close, Jisung! One clown, two balls. You have so got this!” Minho shouts supportively. Jisung looks at the Chipmunk and shoots it a wink. He throws the second-to-last ball and grazes the last clown. _So close._

“Minho, will you kiss the ball for me?” Jisung asks, holding the orange wiffleball up to his newfound friend's face. 

“Absolutely not,” Minho says, eyes stone cold. “I have no idea how many people have touched that. But you have my full support!” Jisung pouts at him, making the biggest puppy eyes he can. Minho blows on the ball, which is enough of a compromise for him. He throws it as hard as he can, and it connects with the clown in a satisfying _smack._ The bastard starts to go down, but at the last minute he springs back up. 

“Damnit!” Jisung shouts, slamming his fist against the machine. It connects poorly, hitting the edge of the machine instead of the flat part he was aiming for, but that’s not what he’s focused on. He was _so close._ He opens and closes his fist. He really slammed it harder than intended, and it hurts, badly. It’s not bleeding, there’s just a dull throb where it first impacted the corner, but it’s enough that he’d rather not move it. 

“Jisung, woah. Are you ok? Let me see your hand,” Minho says, gently pulling Jisung’s hand into his own, opening and closing it. “You shouldn’t throw anymore. Temper, much? I haven’t seen gamer rage like that in a while.”

“But… my chipmunk. I have to tak her home with me, I promised her,” Jisung pouts, picking up his soda cup and holding it to his hand. Even the ice is mostly melted by now, but it’s still cold and it feels good.

“Excuse me,” Minho calls out to the game operator. “Is it possible to just purchase that plush? Will you get in trouble?”

“I don’t care, this is a temporary carnival. My job is done tomorrow anyway. I offered to let him buy it a long time ago,” he says. “Ten bucks.”

“I’ll buy it for you, ok?” Minho says.

“No. I don’t want it if it’s not fair and square, and I still have one token left,” Jisung pouts.

“Can I use your last token? I really don’t want you to throw with your hand like that,” Minho asks.

“Fine. My life is in your hands,” Jisung says seriously. “Well not my life. Her life.” He points up at the plush. The operator grabs the last token and refills the machine, smiling for the first time that night.

“Good luck!”

Minho throws the first ball and hits one of the lower clowns down. The second ball hits the one on the top down. He hits a clown down with every ball he throws as Jisung looks on in amazement. Five balls down, five clowns down, Minho throws again and knocks down the sixth. 

“Ohmygodohmygod you did it! Excuse me, sir, I’d like that chipmunk please!” Jisung shouts, jumping up and down, splashing ice water on the ground beneath him. The operator looks to Minho for approval, who nods his head. He accepts the plush and stares at it.

“This is what you spend almost an hour getting? It’s making one of those porn faces,” Minho says, poking the heart in the center of its eye. He hands it over to Jisung anyway, who accepts it with a giant smile.

“Shut up, she’s sooo cute. I love her. Thank you so much!” Jisung says, putting down his cup so he can hug it with both arms. He hears the click of a camera in the background and turns to look at Minho questioningly. 

“Uhh, sorry. It’s just, it actually is kind of cute. You two kind of look alike. Look,” Minho explains, holding up his phone for Jisung to see the photo he took. He does see the resemblance, mostly in their cheeks. 

“Well, that photo is blurry. At least take a better one,” he says, holding up a peace sign and smiling even bigger, holding the plush’s arm up in the same motion despite its lack of fingers. 

“Cute,” Minho says. “Hey, be careful with your hand. You’re probably gonna have a big bruise, keep the ice on it.”

“Are you a doctor?” Jisung asks. “Is that why you’re so accurate with your aim? Are you a surgeon? A surgeon who walks around carnivals alone playing games to sharpen your skills outside of the operating room?”

“A sur- what? I’m only twenty-two, there’s no way I could be a surgeon. I’m a registered nursing assistant,” Minho responds quickly, looking a little flustered at the strange line of questioning.

“Why is an RNA so good at throwing games? What’s your strategy?” Jisung asks, clutching his plushy in one arm and holding the other towards Minho as if interviewing him with a fake microphone. “The world wants to know.”

“I played baseball in high school,” Minho says into the hand-mic, taking the bait. He looks at Jisung, sparkly eyes widened in anticipation. “I also had a strong source of motivation for my win today. This squirrel would have been very sad if I didn’t.”

“It’s a chipmunk,” Jisung corrects. Minho reaches out and pokes him in the cheek, squeezing a bit before he pulls his hand back. 

“Sure, the plush is,” he says.

“Well, I want a rematch. Do RNA’s get weekends off? Let’s duel at the arcade sometime. Once my hand isn’t injured, I’ll redeem myself,” Jisung asks. Something about Minho makes Jisung feel like he shouldn’t let things end here. He’s not sure if it’s the way their banter aligns so nicely, or his crooked smile, or the potential to mooch more prizes off him, but Jisung definitely wants more.

“Not always, but I have this Saturday off. We can meet at the arcade and duke it out then? How does three sound?” Minho asks. An announcement starts sounding over the carnival intercom, telling attendees they have thirty minutes until the grounds close for the night. “Shit, I gotta go find my sister pretty soon. Can you give me your number?” Jisung reads it off, then holds his hand out to Minho.

“You’ve got a deal. I look forward to the challenge, Dr. Minho,” he announces. Minho stares at the outstretched hand, then looks back up at Jisung.

“I’m not shaking that,” Minho says. He hesitates for a moment, then leans over to Jisung, laying a tiny kiss on his cheek before power walking away. “Keep the ice on it!” He calls out behind him, disappearing into the crowd. Jisung feels his skin burn where Minho’s lips were, reaching up to touch it gently. He’s interrupted by a wolf whistle, coming from the game operator. 

“Congrats, dude. You won!” He says, peeling off his apron and starting to shut the game down. Jisung smiles and thanks him, then walks to the carnival entrance to find his friends.

When he finds Seungmin and Hyunjin, they’re leaning against one of the food stands hand in hand. Jisung knows they’ve got something going on, but he also knows the prefer not to talk to it, so most of the time he plays dumb and lets them do their thing. He had tried to bail on them tonight and let them come to the carnival alone, but they wouldn’t have it, amazing friends that they are. Now he’s glad he tagged along. 

“Hey! Seungmin! Hyunjin!” Jisung shouts through the crowd, giving them ample time to let go of each other's hands if they want to. Hyunjin pulls away first, walking towards Jisung with Seungmin close behind. 

“Hey! Did you finally win your chipmunk? Took you long enough” he says, patting it on the head. 

“How else would I have gotten it?” Jisung asks. It isn’t a lie, per se, but he knows it’s not the whole truth. They’ve got their little secret relationship going on, and that’s fine. Minho is Jisung’s secret, at least for tonight.

* * *

Saturday feels _so_ far away. There’s only three days left in reality, but to Jisung it feels like an eternity. He’s pretty sure his coworker feels the same way, since when he confided in Felix about what had happened when they got into work on Monday he had been really excited for Jisung, but now it’s Wednesday and every time Jisung mentions the name Minho he just groans.

“You just don’t get how handsome he was. If he walked in right now, you’d understand why I’m freaking out. You’d be begging to be his server,” Jisung says. The restaurant they work at hasn’t hit their evening rush yet, so they’re both sitting at an empty table making silverware roll-ups. Felix grabs a napkin from the center of the table, folding it down the middle and creasing it.

“You’re right, I don’t know how handsome he is. But based on what you’ve told me, he looks like a cat. And he has a big crooked smirk. And a pointy nose. He sounds like the cheshire cat,” Felix says.

“Shut up, he’s not the cheshire cat. He’s really good looking. And the cheshire cat has stripes, he didn’t have stripes.”

“Who doesn’t have stripes?” a familiar voice asks. Jisung looks towards the front of the restaurant and sees none other than Minho, waiting at the host stand. 

“Minho? Are you eating here?” Jisung asks. This is the first time he’s seen him since the carnival, but they’ve texted back and forth a little bit. He knows Jisung works at this restaurant, but he never mentioned stopping by. “I thought you had work!”

“I do,” Minho says, gesturing down at his scrubs. “I just ordered takeout. I’m on break right now, I volunteered to grab lunch for a few people on shift.”

“He appears out of nowhere like the cheshire cat,” Felix says under his breath. Jisung kicks him under the table. A moment later, the host comes out of the kitchen holding two paper takeout bags and hands them to Minho. He glances at the watch on his wrist, then grabs them hurriedly. 

“Sorry I can’t stay and talk, Jisung, I really gotta get back! I’ll see you on Saturday!” Minho calls, blowing a kiss in their direction. Jisung snatches it from the air and tosses one back, and Minho is off.

“See? He’s handsome.” Jisung says smugly, as if he’s accomplished something beyond impressive.

“He is handsome,” Felix nods approvingly. “He’s into you, too. I didn’t realize it was actually a date.”

“It’s not a date! It’s a duel,” Jisung says, cheeks warming up a bit as he avoids eye contact. 

“But he came to visit you at work. He couldn’t even wait six days before seeing you again. He blew you a kiss,” Felix says, smiling brightly. “It’s cute. It’s definitely a date.” Jisung throws a napkin at him, causing his friend to yelp and their boss to come out. 

“Stop messing around!”

* * *

Saturday has finally come, and Jisung is standing a block away from the arcade trying to compose himself. He looks into a mirrored shop window to check his appearance, making sure everything is in order. His hair is clean and brushed, there’s nothing on his face, so grooming-wise he’s good. He checks his outfit. He’d spent thirty minutes trying to find something that said “this isn’t a date but I’d like it to inspire you to take me on one,” which apparently translated into skinny jeans and a hoodie. It’s pretty similar to what he was wearing at the carnival, but it had been enough to interest Minho back then, so he guessed it was ok. It’s not a date, anyway, it’s a duel.

Jisung walks over to the arcade, still a few minutes early, and takes a seat at a table outside. He starts scrolling through his phone, but is only on it for a minute before he feels a finger poking his cheek and looks up to see Minho. _God he looks good._ The last time Jisung had seen him he was in scrubs, but now he’s in an oversized button up and jeans that hug his legs so tight it should be criminal. Kind of a bummer this isn’t a date, he really deserves some praise for looking like that.

“Hey, Sungie. Want to head in?” Minho asks, offering his hand to help Jisung stand up. He takes it, but when Jisung is upright Minho keeps holding onto his previously injured hand for a minute, opening and closing it. “Does your hand still hurt? Your finger is kind of crooked, you didn’t break it or anything did you?”

“Hey! C’mon, that’s just what my fingers look like, don’t make fun of me,” Jisung says, holding his other hand out for comparison. “My hand is fine, it was just a bruise like you said.” Minho hums, inspecting the other hand and moving it to put Jisung into a prayer position so he can see if the fingers align. He opens and closes this one too, although there can’t be any medical purpose. Jisung isn’t sure what the intention is for this, nor the intention when Minho intertwines his own fingers with Jisung’s and squeezes them together, but he sure hopes it’s something good. “Are you sure you’re ready to head in? As soon as we do, it’s war.”

“Oh, I’ve been training for this my whole life,” Minho says with a smirk, pulling Jisung towards the entrance. They pull out their wallets, exchanging cash for tokens, and begin formulating a game plan.

“Ok, I was thinking we start at the basketball game and then make our way around from there. We definitely need to hit skeeball and the bottle toss, and then we can end at the crane machines, so that when I win a bunch of prizes we don’t have to carry them around everywhere,” Jisung says seriously.

“I want to play DDR too at some point,” Minho says, “But I agree with most of the plan. Your strategy is impressive.” 

They catch up while walking over to the basketball game, going over their weeks. They’ve been texting throughout their time apart, but the conversations are mostly goofy without offering much real information about each other. Jisung has learned some real things, though. Minho is living at home to help his single mother take care of his little sister, even though he could afford to move out if he wanted to. Jisung suspects the cats he has at home also play a factor. He knows Minho works weird hours, like _really_ weird hours, and sometimes Jisung wakes up to find a string of texts sent at four in the morning about a patient's weird requests or stories (nothing confidential, of course). It’s probably a miracle he has today off.

Minho is good at basketball. They put in enough tokens for three rounds, and he wins the first one easily. Jisung gains an advantage in round two by making loud noises every time Minho is about to throw, which sometimes startles him enough to mess up his throw, but the strategy is pretty unreliable. In round three Minho implements the same strategy, but it has a one-hundred percent success rate against Jisung, and he ends the round with a big fat zero on his screen and a pout on his face. Minho pats him on the head and smiles, directing them towards the skeeball.

“Alright, this is my time to shine. No strength needed, just precision. You’re going down,” Jisung says, already feeling a little cocky. He’s never lost in skeeball, not once. He definitely has the advantage here, and the points show it. He aims for the middle, consistently getting fifties and forties, a reliable and safe way to rack up points. He looks over at Minho, who ends the first round three hundred points under. When Jisung sees he’s strategy, he gets why.

“Minho! Are you seriously only aiming for hundreds?” Jisung asks in shock. “That’s so risky!” 

“You say that,” Minho says, rolling a ball and watching it land in the one-hundred slot in the top left corner, “but sometimes risk pays off.” Minho looks over at Jisung and winks, blowing a cocky kiss his way. He rolls again and gets the same result. Four times in a row, he rolls and the ball plunges perfectly into the one-hundred hole, leaving Jisung in shock. He decides to focus on his own game, sticking to his strategy of aiming for forties and fifties, which pays off in the end. He wins skeeball 2-0, but not without a slight jolt to his ego.

Bottle toss is neck and neck, the plastic rings flying wherever they want to go. It’s also not as fun as Jisung or Minho remember it being, so halfway through the first round they look at each other and agree to abandon ship.

“Let’s play DDR now! I want to show off!” Minho calls out.

“Well, at least you’re honest. I don’t remember the last time I played this. Can we do easy mode?” Jisung asks, a little unsure what he’s in for.

“You can, I’m doing expert. I spent all of my time and money in high school preparing for this day, where I could show off to all the cute boys in the world my greatest asset,” Minho says proudly, inserting his tokens into the game. They select an upbeat kpop classic, Jisung getting brave and choosing regular mode and Minho following through on his promise to show off his expertise.

He’s really good. Jisung can tell he’s the kind of player that knows what they’re doing, because he actually leans against the bar in the back and moves his feet at the speed of light. Jisung takes a bouncier approach, jumping up and down to the rhythm of the song and hitting about eighty percent of the notes. By the time they finish the second round, Jisung is heaving and feels sweat dripping down the side of his face, and he has to remove his sweatshirt. Minho provides him with a wolf whistle when his tee shirt rides up a little, which he responds to with a passionate middle finger.

“I’m just gonna watch you,” Jisung pants, stepping off the machine. When he looks around, he sees he’s not the only one, as a small group of girls have stopped what they were doing to watch them. Jisung feels a little proud. All these people are watching Minho, but right now he belongs to Jisung. _Wait, belongs to me? That’s not right._

_This isn’t even a date._

Minho plays for three more rounds, getting nearly perfect scores on every single one. Jisung had snuck away in the middle of the second to go get some drinks for them, and when Minho steps off the machine panting and sweaty he holds up an ice cold soda to his mouth and hands over a napkin. Minho takes the napkin, wiping the sweat from his brow and crumpling it up, while at the same time leaning over and sipping from the drink in Jisung’s hand. It’s cute, and Jisung feels good playing the caretaker for a second.

“Thank you,” Minho says, still breathing a little heavily from the workout.

“Anything for the superstar. I humbly admit defeat on this one,” Jisung responds with a chuckle. Minho walks to a seating area and they rest for a bit, Minho telling tales of his times in this arcade. He had grown up in this town, had started visiting this arcade since when he was young and gone all throughout high school. He left the area when he was in college, roughly the time Jisung moved in a few years ago. It wasn’t a huge town, Jisung had honestly been thrown off when he met someone around his age that he didn’t know at the carnival, but their timelines and Minho’s weird work schedules provided some clarification. 

“You ready for me to win you some prizes?” Minho asks after a while, slurping the last of his drink down and making hollow noises with his straw.

“Anything you win for me, I’ll win something better for you. You can trust me on that,” Jisung says, holding out his little finger. Minho links them and they shake, an unbreakable pinky promise. Now he’s got no choice. They walk over to the prize game section of the arcade, looking around at crane machines and games where you have to press the button at _just_ the right time to win a prize of your choice. Those are Jisung’s favorite.

They start at a crane game, Jisung pointing excitedly at one full of anime figures. Minho starts, and Jisung slides around to give directions on how to best align the crane from the side. The first attempt completely misses. The second gets closer, but the box is tilted at an angle that makes the metal hooks slide right off. He tries the same machine for a third time, aiming for a different figure that rides up about an inch before slipping again. Jisung notices Minho’s eyebrows furrow and his face crease up in anger. It strikes him that Minho may not be used to losing, especially so many times in a row. 

“Ok, my turn!” he calls out, putting an arm around Minho’s shoulder. “Which crane machine strikes your fancy? If I’m going to give my prizes away, the recipient should get something they like.” Minho smiles, pointing to a machine full of stuffed cats. That figures. They walk over and Jisung scopes out the machine from all sides, trying to identify the most beneficially angled plush. He inserts his token, angles his crane just so, and lets it drop. The cat is resting on top of the pile, likely thanks to the last player, and the crane grabs down on it and pulls it up, placing it neatly in the prize compartment. Jisung cheers while grabbing it.

“Oh my god, you really got it on the first try. I’m actually impressed,” Minho says, jutting out his lower lip and nodding in appreciation. He smiles as Jisung hands him the toy. “Thank you. I’ll keep it safe. Can you do that for the machine over there?” Minho asks, pointing to a machine full of figures from a popular magical girl show. 

“I gotta say Minho, I wouldn’t have expected that to be your taste.” 

“Shut up, I asked for your skills, not your attitude,” he says with a smile, pushing Jisung towards the new machine. He works his magic again, procuring a magical girl doll and handing it over. Jisung meant it when he said he was good at these. Games of strength were never his strong suit, but he has a keen eye. “Thank you so much.”

“Seriously, can I ask why you want that? No judgement if you like anime, I do too, but that really does seem outside of your interests,” Jisung says, not wanting to dig too deep but unable to stop his curiosity. 

“It’s for my sister,” Minho responds quietly, placing the plush and the doll in his backpack. Jisung feels his heart swell a bit. He’d almost forgotten what Minho sacrificed, moving back home to take care of his family instead of progressing with medical school. He’s kind of weird, but he’s a really good person. Jisung really wants to keep him around. 

“Well, let’s switch machines. I think that one has more expensive stuff, let’s aim high” Jisung says, pointing to one of the timing games. He puts in a few tokens and watches the wheel spin, trying to calculate the best time to press down. When he slams his hand down, the wheel slows, stopping a few tick points from where he needs it. “Damn! Close! Minho, cheer for me.”

“Woo! Go Jisung! Fight! Show it who’s boss!” Minho yells, not even questioning the request. He’s loud enough that everyone in the surrounding area gets alarmed and looks up at the sudden disruption, but he doesn’t seem to be paying attention to that. Jisung slams his hand down again and gets closer this time, just one tick mark away.

“I need more energy. More cheering, please!”

“Go Jisung! Go Jisung! All-powerful game master Jisung, I know you can do it!” Minho shouts, which makes Jisung laugh and look up at him. Minho is close, leaning over his shoulder for the best view possible, and when Jisung’s position changes their faces are only a few inches apart. Minho looks at him, feline eyes sparkling in excitement. He smiles cutely, then leans in, pressing a quick kiss to Jisung’s cheek for the second time since they’ve met. “For good luck,” he claims.

“Y-yeah, for good luck. Ok, I can’t lose after that!” Jisung says, letting out a brief yell to pump himself up and also to relieve some of the tension building in his chest when he thinks about Minho’s pretty lips on his skin. He watches the wheel again, slamming his fist down when it feels right, and finally hits the mark. The machine starts flashing and making sounds, and a prize drops down into the bin. Jisung pulls it out and opens the little box, unsure what he’d been playing for. 

“Oh wow, those are pretty!” Minho says upon seeing the prize. It’s a pair of earrings, obviously nothing precious but beautiful nonetheless. They’re simple and dainty, but they seem pretty well made.

“They’re really nice! Would your sister like them?” Jisung asks, holding the box towards Minho.

“Oh, I can’t take these from you. You already won me two things. Plus they’re so nice, and you have your own ear piercings,” Minho says. Jisung keeps holding the box out towards him, tilting his chin down and giving him his most convincing look. Minho reluctantly takes the box, then places it down on the machine, beginning to pull one of the earrings out.

“Minho? What are you doing?” Jisung asks as Minho starts walking towards him.

“You gave me the earrings, so I can do whatever I want with them. So turn your head,” Minho says, lightly taking Jisung’s jaw in his hand and tilting it. He pushes one of the earrings in Jisung’s vacant second hole, securing the back on tightly. He grabs the second one and puts it in his own ear. Jisung never noticed Minho’s ears were pierced, he hadn’t had anything in the other times he’d seen him, but now the silver earring glints prettily against his face. “There. Now it’s even.”

“Uh… thanks. You look really good. I mean the earring… It looks really good. I like it,” Jisung stutters, trying not to sound too flustered. Even he can tell he’s failing. Jisung reaches to touch the new earring, twisting the little stone around as he watches Minho struggle to get the box in his bag. They’re wearing matching earrings. _Is this really not a date?_

Minho pulls him to another crane machine, this one filled with stuffed woodland creatures. It’s so up Jisung’s alley it’s scary. 

“I want to win you one,” says Minho. “Preferably a little squirrel, because it’s cute when you match, and the carnival one was terrifying.”

“First of all, don’t insult Chippy, she’s a chipmunk and she’s beautiful,” Jisung says defensively. “Second of all, if you want to win me one, what’s stopping you?”

“I’m bad at crane games,” he says matter-of-factly. _Well, at least he’s self-aware._

“So what do you propose, then?” Jisung questions.

“You line the crane up for me and make sure it’s perfect,” Minho states. Jisung nods, he thinks he can see where this is going. “And then I hit the button. And I get to hand you the prize.” He looks dead serious, and Jisung has to look down and take a few deep breaths to avoid laughing in his face.

“Ok, deal. Put your token in,” Jisung says, inspecting the best plush to choose. “I’m going for this one, ok?” Jisung asks, pointing at a beaver on the top. It’s an easy pick.

“No. It has to be a squirrel. What about that one?” Minho asks. Jisung rolls his eyes, looking at the one Minho is pointing at. It’s still on the top, but it’s in the back, so there’s more risk of the crane scraping the wall of the machine. It’s going to be a challenge, but he’s doing this for Minho, who is technically doing it for him. It’s a bit convoluted, but it’s worth the effort.

“Alright. Let’s do this.” Jisung takes his time lining things up, peeking around the side and making small adjustments. Minho is leaning over his shoulder again, hand hovering over his own for when it’s time to push down. The clock on the machine is ticking, down to ten seconds, but Jisung needs to make one more little adjustment. He finishes, then waits for the crane to straighten. The clock ticks down to three. “NOW!” Jisung yells, starting to move his hand away for Minho to take his place. He’s too slow, though, and instead Minho’s hand holds Jisungs down as they press the button together. He doesn’t remove it until the crane reaches down, picks up the little squirrel, and successfully deposits it into the bin. They look at each other and whoop in excitement, throwing their hands up into the air and grinning. Minho leans down to get the plush, inspecting it carefully.

“It’s a lot cuter,” Minho says, bouncing the plush up and down a few times and looking at it’s face. It’s smaller than Chippy, but plumper, and the eyes are solid black beads instead of the heart shapes Minho disliked so much. “It’s a lot more deserving of you. A cute squirrel for a cute squirrel.” He grins as he passes it to Jisung with both hands, who grabs it and hugs it to his chest. 

“Thank you, Minho! It’s adorable!” Jisung says, not missing what Minho had just called him but not knowing how to acknowledge it. _He called me cute._

They each only have a few tokens left, so they agree to play a few classic games, no prizes on the line. They play Pacman, and Minho outlasts him by a long shot. Street Fighter is closer, but Jisung still comes out on the losing end. Three games later, Jisung is out of tokens without a win in sight, but they’ve been laughing so much he doesn’t really care. They leave the arcade in good spirits, Minho with a bag full of prizes and Jisung with his stuffed squirrel clutched against his chest.

“Let’s get ice cream!” Jisung calls when they walk past the parlor, hanging a quick left to get inside. They each place their orders and walk up to the pay counter together, Jisung reaching for his wallet.

“Are you two together or separate?” Asks the cashier. 

“Together,” Minho says forcefully, slapping a twenty dollar bill down on the counter as fast as he can. He looks at Jisung, clearly having noticed him reaching for his own cash. “I was faster. Together.” Jisung can feel heat rise up in his cheeks, and he’s sure he’s blushing as Minho takes the receipt and his change with a smile. They start walking, no specific direction in mind, but Jisung notices they’re veering towards his apartment. He doesn’t say anything. He doesn’t really want this to end yet.

“So, Minho, you said your expertise in games lies in a strong motivation,” Jisung says, holding his ice cream cone out as a fake microphone. “Will you share with the audience what that is?” Minho looks at the cone, strawberry cheesecake flavored, and licks it. Jisung feels his ears heat up, a little shocked at the intimacy.

“Same motivation as last time,” He says casually, licking a little smudge of cream off his lip. “I’m trying to impress a cute boy.” Jisung stops in his tracks for a moment, startled at how blunt that was. Even if it had been implied before, this is pretty explicit. _He called me cute again! Why is this not a date?!_

Jisung runs to catch up, standing a little closer than earlier, letting his and Minho’s elbows brush. They continue walking for a few more minutes, pointing out random things around them, pretty homes they’d like to live in one day. Everything becomes familiar, and Jisung realizes they’ve come across his block. As they come up to his building, Jisung stops walking, grabbing Minho by the elbow to stop him as well. It’s late, and Jisung works the breakfast shift tomorrow, and he should really go inside.

“This is my apartment building,” Jisung says, answering the unspoken question in Minho’s eyes. He looks up at it, nodding in approval. It’s not much, pretty small and run down, but the inside is nice and the rent is cheap. “This is my building, and I work early. But… Can we meet up again soon?” Jisung asks hopefully.

“Of course. I’d love to,” Minho says with a smile.

“But, like, soon? And not at the arcade. I had a lot of fun, but can I… Can I take you to dinner? Can I please take you on a date?” Jisung asks, squeezing his eyes shut in nervousness. Minho doesn’t say anything for a few moments, and Jisung cautiously opens one eye. The man in front of him looks very confused.

“On a.. On a date? I kind of thought we were already on a date. I didn’t realize you didn’t… I’m sorry, this is really embarrassing,” Minho mutters, tripping over his words. He’s blushing like crazy, biting his lip, and Jisung feels awful for making him look like this. Not for the blushing, that part is cute, but he looks so disappointed. “I want to, but I’m really… I don’t know what to say. Is it ok if I text you later?” Minho asks. Jisung doesn’t know what to say. He can’t get any words out. So Minho turns slowly, starting to walk away.

“Wait!” Jisung says, grabbing him by the wrist and turning him back around. “You thought we were on a date?” Minho nods, still blushing furiously. “Well, was it a good one?”

“What? Jisung, yeah it was, until just now I guess. It still is, I guess, I’m just embarrassed,” Minho says, face slowly coming back to it’s normal state.

“So it was a good date?”

“Yeah.”

“And you walked me to my door, right?” Jisung says, looking briefly to his apartment building.

“I guess it was unintentional, but I did walk you to your door,” says Minho. He still looks a little confused. Jisung takes in a deep breath, hoping he can say what he wants to clearly.

“Well if it was a good first date, and you walked me to my door, aren’t you supposed to kiss me goodnight? You’ve always given me a kiss goodbye.” Jisung asks. He knows he doesn’t look as smooth as he wants to, he can feel heat in his ears and he knows his face is a little scrunched up as a reflex to being so cheesy.

“Oh. Yeah, I’m supposed to kiss you goodnight,” Minho repeats. He walks up closer, placing a hand on Jisung’s jaw. It’s a little sticky, and it smells like vanilla ice cream, but Jisung doesn’t mind. Minho leans in closer, and so does he, letting Minho guide him upwards. Their lips connect, and it feels _so good._ Jisung knew Minho’s lips were soft, he could tell from his little pecks on the cheek, but they’re also full and smooth and perfect in every way. They even taste perfect, the vanilla ice cream blending with his strawberry shortcake, and Jisung deepens the kiss a little to chase more of the addicting sweetness. 

They pull away after a minute, not letting things go too far. They’re still standing in the middle of Jisung’s neighborhood, and Jisung is kind of a sucker for clichés, the sweet and innocent first kiss at the doorway being one of his favorites. He smiles up at Minho, admiring how pretty his eyes look in the light of the streetlamps and the summer night. 

“Thank you for the date. I had a really good time. I wish I had known it was happening so I could have flirted better,” Jisung says, voice sounding a little distant in his own ears. He’s really happy, maybe that’s why.

“Well, you’re going to take me to dinner soon. You can practice for then. I bet you’d be good at flirting with me, you’re good at almost everything else,” Minho says, pressing another quick kiss to his lips. “Text me more details about that date, ok?”

“Yeah. Let me know when you get home. I look forward to it.” Jisung says, pulling out his keys and opening the door to his building. As soon as he sees Minho’s shadow move away in his peripheral, Jisung lifts his arms up in a silent cheer, then pulls out his phone to text Felix.

_It had been a date!_

* * *

A couple weeks later, Jisung finds himself on yet another date with Minho. This time it’s more casual, they’re just cuddled up on his couch watching a scary movie. They had set up a competition, something they quickly learned they thrived on as a couple; whoever jumps when something scary happens gets a point, and whoever gets the most points loses. Jisung was losing by a significant margin about thirty minutes into the film, so he decided to try an alternate method of winning; distracting Minho.

Currently that distraction came in the form of him perched on his boyfriend’s lap, unable to see the screen as he sucks hickeys into Minho’s neck. Every once in a while, Jisung would hit a sensitive spot, making Minho flinch.

“Point for you,” Jisung mutters against his neck, sucking harder at the spot to see if he can get him to flinch again. He does. “Another point. You’re at like ten now, what are you so scared of, Minho?” Jisung trailed his lips down Minho’s neck, pressing a small bite to his collarbone. Minho jumps again. “Eleven.”

“You! I’m scared of you, you little monster,” Minho says, feigning anger while laughing under his breath. He pulls Jisung’s head up and brings him into a kiss, pulling away after a few minutes. “I’m just about done with this competition. What else can we do?” he whispers in a low voice.

“I’ll show you!” Jisung says cheerily, clamoring off Minho’s lap and pulling him down the hall. He follows happily, laughing as he presses kisses to the back of Jisung’s neck while they walk, stopping to let Jisung open the door to his room and pull them inside. Minho looks around the room for the first time and lets his jaw drop, eyes lingering on one piece of furniture in particular;

Jisung’s bed, a standard queen, which looks like it should have plenty of room for two adults. And yet somehow, with the entire left side being covered in plushies of various animals and sizes, some stacked three high on top of each other, some having fallen to the floor, Minho isn’t very confident. He sees the first two plushies he had given him, Chippy and Hoho, closest to Jisung’s pillow. There’s another one that he had gifted his boyfriend a few days ago hanging out in the same area. Minho looks at Jisung, then back at the bed.

“We’re never going to the arcade again.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed :) Follow me on twitter at /0hrhj0 if you want to know what's going on for future writings/see me yell about skz/nct!


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